Virat Kohli fields unchanged playing XI for the first time in 39 Tests

Virat Kohli fields unchanged playing XI for the first time in 39 Tests

In 38 Tests that Virat Kohli led India in before today, he had made a change to the playing XI in every match.

advertisement

Rajarshi Gupta

Southampton

August 30, 2018

UPDATED: August 30, 2018 17:05 IST

Virat Kohli had made at least one change in 38 matches as India Test captain before today (Reuters)

For the first time in 39 Tests as captain, Virat Kohli has fielded an unchanged playing XI. On Thursay, India decided to field the same XI at Southampton for the fourth Test against England which played in the third Test at Trent Bridge.

Kohli took over as Test captain from MS Dhoni in 2014 and before today, had captained India in 38 Tests. Remarkably, Kohli had made at least one change in each of those 38 matches.

Kohli has of course the results to show. Under him, India have won 22 out of 38 Tests so far. However, it was beginning to get a little tense after the team lost the Test series in South Africa and then lost the first two Tests of the five-match series in England.

After the Lord's defeat, India recalled Shikhar Dhawan in place of Murali Vijay and brought back Jasprit Bumrah who was out injured.

Thanks to Kohli's heroics and some superb bowling by the pacers, India won only their seventh Test match in England. And with all the key players fit and raring to go, Kohli saw no point in making any changes.

At Trent Bridge, all the batsmen scored runs. Dhawan, KL Rahul, Cheteshwar Pujara and Ajinkya Rahane found form and added much needed stability to the batting line-up.